Improvements in Internal Logistics : A Case Study at SSAB Oxelösund - Logistics Development Department

Internal logistics is a combined performance of human resources, machines, transportation, and storage system. Thus, different elements and factors are involved in the internal transportation such as human factors and system functions. Moreover, Internal transportation is an important part of production activities because of its close cooperation with production processes. Since the largest portion of the logistics costs is related to transportation, improvements in transportation will lead to a significant increase in profits. The purpose of this thesis is to make improvements in the internal transportation of SSAB. Improvements here means identifying involved wastes in internal transportation, then give recommendations and suggestions to eliminate those wastes. This is a single case study at SSAB Oxelösund. SSAB stands for Svenskt Stål AB formed in 1978 and is well-known because of its special steel products. This company produces steel products for both standard and special orders and uses. All the underproduction plates have to go through a chain of operations to become the finished products. Different operation can be mentioned as cutting, painting, sorting, etc. Material movements in this chain of operations are done with the help of special cassettes and carriers. Cassettes are the main resources intheinternal transportation of SSAB and availability of empty cassettes plays a key role in the whole production process of the company. There are three departments that are involved with internal transportation at SSAB Oxelösund. Four research objectives are designed to cover the purpose of this study. In the following, several interviews and observations are done to collect the qualitative part of data gathering. The quantitative part of data collection is done with exporting data series from company’s database. Theoretical frame work ismainly based on Lean and logistics theories. Analysing the collected data and comparing the results with theoretical frame work lead to identifying the wastes in different areas related to defined research objectives. Different wastes are identified in carriers and drivers’ performances, treatment stations, etc. Therefore, specific recommendations are given based on the identified wastes in order to eliminate those wastes. The recommendations are presented to have faster and optimized material flow. Additionally, areas for further research and an Impact/Effort matrix are provided for future implementations and analysis

Improvements in Internal Logistics : A Case Study at SSAB Oxelösund - Logistics Development Department

Internal logistics is a combined performance of human resources, machines, transportation, and storage system. Thus, different elements and factors are involved in the internal transportation such as human factors and system functions. Moreover, Internal transportation is an important part of production activities because of its close cooperation with production processes. Since the largest portion of the logistics costs is related to transportation, improvements in transportation will lead to a significant increase in profits. The purpose of this thesis is to make improvements in the internal transportation of SSAB. Improvements here means identifying involved wastes in internal transportation, then give recommendations and suggestions to eliminate those wastes. This is a single case study at SSAB Oxelösund. SSAB stands for Svenskt Stål AB formed in 1978 and is well-known because of its special steel products. This company produces steel products for both standard and special orders and uses. All the underproduction plates have to go through a chain of operations to become the finished products. Different operation can be mentioned as cutting, painting, sorting, etc. Material movements in this chain of operations are done with the help of special cassettes and carriers. Cassettes are the main resources intheinternal transportation of SSAB and availability of empty cassettes plays a key role in the whole production process of the company. There are three departments that are involved with internal transportation at SSAB Oxelösund. Four research objectives are designed to cover the purpose of this study. In the following, several interviews and observations are done to collect the qualitative part of data gathering. The quantitative part of data collection is done with exporting data series from company’s database. Theoretical frame work ismainly based on Lean and logistics theories. Analysing the collected data and comparing the results with theoretical frame work lead to identifying the wastes in different areas related to defined research objectives. Different wastes are identified in carriers and drivers’ performances, treatment stations, etc. Therefore, specific recommendations are given based on the identified wastes in order to eliminate those wastes. The recommendations are presented to have faster and optimized material flow. Additionally, areas for further research and an Impact/Effort matrix are provided for future implementations and analysis

Improvements in Internal Logistics : A Case Study at SSAB Oxelösund - Logistics Development Department

Internal logistics is a combined performance of human resources, machines, transportation, and storage system. Thus, different elements and factors are involved in the internal transportation such as human factors and system functions. Moreover, Internal transportation is an important part of production activities because of its close cooperation with production processes. Since the largest portion of the logistics costs is related to transportation, improvements in transportation will lead to a significant increase in profits. The purpose of this thesis is to make improvements in the internal transportation of SSAB. Improvements here means identifying involved wastes in internal transportation, then give recommendations and suggestions to eliminate those wastes. This is a single case study at SSAB Oxelösund. SSAB stands for Svenskt Stål AB formed in 1978 and is well-known because of its special steel products. This company produces steel products for both standard and special orders and uses. All the underproduction plates have to go through a chain of operations to become the finished products. Different operation can be mentioned as cutting, painting, sorting, etc. Material movements in this chain of operations are done with the help of special cassettes and carriers. Cassettes are the main resources intheinternal transportation of SSAB and availability of empty cassettes plays a key role in the whole production process of the company. There are three departments that are involved with internal transportation at SSAB Oxelösund. Four research objectives are designed to cover the purpose of this study. In the following, several interviews and observations are done to collect the qualitative part of data gathering. The quantitative part of data collection is done with exporting data series from company’s database. Theoretical frame work ismainly based on Lean and logistics theories. Analysing the collected data and comparing the results with theoretical frame work lead to identifying the wastes in different areas related to defined research objectives. Different wastes are identified in carriers and drivers’ performances, treatment stations, etc. Therefore, specific recommendations are given based on the identified wastes in order to eliminate those wastes. The recommendations are presented to have faster and optimized material flow. Additionally, areas for further research and an Impact/Effort matrix are provided for future implementations and analysis

CuFe₂O₄ decorated with BSA as a potential nanoradioenhancer for enhanced X-ray radiation therapy of brain tumor

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a type of the central nervous system malignancy and considered as the most lethal and aggressive primary brain tumor. Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) along with temozolomide (TMZ) is considered as the standard treatment regimen for GBM. However, implementation of RT in tumor suppression is frequently accompanied by several side effects. Additionally, dose limitation and radioresistance are other major drawbacks associated with radiation therapy. To this end, nanoradioenhancer/or nanoradiosensitizer based on high-Z metallic elements has emerged as a powerful treatment modality in GBM therapy. In this study, CuFe2O4 decorated with BSA nanoplatforms (CuFe2O4 @BSA) was fabricated to improve the theraputics potential of RT through sensitizing the U-87 GBM cells to X-ray radiation. The characterization techniques such as FTIR, XRD, EDS and UV-Vis spectroscopy confirmed successful fabrication of CuFe2O4 @BSA radioenhancer, while also TEM images indicated the prepared nanoradiosensitizers are uniform, homogenous, and spherical with an average size of about 5 nm. In vitro hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility of developed CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers were also investigated by hemolysis and MTT assay, respectively. The merits of CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoplatforms in sensitizing the U-87 cells to the ionizing radiation were also exploited using intracellular ROS generation and MTT assay. It was found that CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers did not cause any deleterious effects on primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) of which the cell viability of all treated group was beyond 95%, endorsing the cytocompatibility and safety of these nanoplatforms for further assessment. Hemolysis assay also confirms the biosafety of CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers, exhibiting no significant toxicity against human red blood cells in which the degree of hemolysis was less than 4%. In vitro cancer radiotherapy also demonstrated that the cell viability of U-87 GBM was considerably decreased once co-modality of X-ray and CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers were used simultaneously. Radiosensitizing ability of these nanoparticles was also proved by intracellular ROS generation, of which implementation of CuFe2O4@BSA nanoradiosensitizers upon X-ray irradiation resulted in superior ROS production. Overall, these findings provide vital evidence for applicability of prepared CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers in killing the primary brain tumor cells specifically GBM

CuFe2O4 decorated with BSA as a potential nanoradioenhancer for enhanced X-ray radiation therapy of brain tumor

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a type of the central nervous system malignancy and considered as the most lethal and aggressive primary brain tumor. Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) along with temozolomide (TMZ) is considered as the standard treatment regimen for GBM. However, implementation of RT in tumor suppression is frequently accompanied by several side effects. Additionally, dose limitation and radioresistance are other major drawbacks associated with radiation therapy. To this end, nanoradioenhancer/or nanoradiosensitizer based on high-Z metallic elements has emerged as a powerful treatment modality in GBM therapy. In this study, CuFe2O4 decorated with BSA nanoplatforms (CuFe2O4 @BSA) was fabricated to improve the theraputics potential of RT through sensitizing the U-87 GBM cells to X-ray radiation. The characterization techniques such as FTIR, XRD, EDS and UV–Vis spectroscopy confirmed successful fabrication of CuFe2O4 @BSA radioenhancer, while also TEM images indicated the prepared nanoradiosensitizers are uniform, homogenous, and spherical with an average size of about 5 nm. In vitro hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility of developed CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers were also investigated by hemolysis and MTT assay, respectively. The merits of CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoplatforms in sensitizing the U-87 cells to the ionizing radiation were also exploited using intracellular ROS generation and MTT assay. It was found that CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers did not cause any deleterious effects on primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) of which the cell viability of all treated group was beyond 95%, endorsing the cytocompatibility and safety of these nanoplatforms for further assessment. Hemolysis assay also confirms the biosafety of CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers, exhibiting no significant toxicity against human red blood cells in which the degree of hemolysis was less than 4%. In vitro cancer radiotherapy also demonstrated that the cell viability of U-87 GBM was considerably decreased once co-modality of X-ray and CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers were used simultaneously. Radiosensitizing ability of these nanoparticles was also proved by intracellular ROS generation, of which implementation of CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers upon X-ray irradiation resulted in superior ROS production. Overall, these findings provide vital evidence for applicability of prepared CuFe2O4 @BSA nanoradiosensitizers in killing the primary brain tumor cells specifically GBM

Preparation and evaluation of bismuth sulfide and magnetite-based theranostic nanohybrid as drug carrier and dual MRI/CT contrast agent

Due to the increased incidence and population growth that has been leading to growing number of cases worldwide, early diagnosis and treatment of cancer is crucial. Low density cancer tissue cannot be diagnosed before progressing toward a metastatic stage. Thus, theranostic systems play a significant role in assisting timely diagnosis and treatment. The combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) contrast agents in a single probe is of high importance and necessity, where individual strengths of each approach can be merged while shortcomings of each modality could be compensated. With this motivation, we have developed and synthesized Bi2S3@BSA-Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a dual MRI/CT contrast agent and carrier of curcumin (CUR) as natural anticancer drug. The nanoparticles shortened both the longitudinal (T-1) and transverse (T-2), MRI relaxation times, with a more distinct effect on producing negative contrast (T-2) images with a relaxivity (r(2)) of 54.73 mM(-1) s(-1). The magnetite/bismuth hybrid nanoparticle also was capable of increasing CT image contrast. Further, in vitro cytotoxicity assay showed high biocompatibility of the synthesized nanoparticles. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxicity assay on cancer cells showed high anticancer activity of the synthesized nanoparticles

Chemoradiation therapy of 4T1 cancer cells with methotrexate conjugated platinum nanoparticles under X-Ray irradiation

© 2023 Elsevier B.V.Bovine serum albumin (BSA) coated platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (Pt@BSA NPs) were synthesized, followed by the conjugation of an anticancer drug (MTX) with the aim of chemoradiation therapy. The physical and chemical properties of Pt@BSA-MTX were evaluated by DLS, FESEM, STEM, UV–Vis and XRD. A release study was performed in the presence and absence of the proteinase K enzyme. In terms of morphology, nanoparticles appeared to be monodispersed and spherical. The size of nanoparticles was 7.4 ± 1.4 nm. Release behavior of Pt@BSA-MTX depended significantly on enzyme presence which accelerated and promoted the release of MTX. The improved chemoradiation was demonstrated in vitro using MTT, colony formation and apoptosis assays on mouse breast carcinoma cells (4T1). It was concluded that the combination of a nanoradiosensitizer with a chemotherapeutic agent resulted in superior anticancer activity after X-ray exposure

Additive manufacturing of bioactive glass biomaterials

Abstract Tissue engineering (TE) and regenerative medicine have held great promises for the repair and regeneration of damaged tissues and organs. Additive manufacturing has recently appeared as a versatile technology in TE strategies that enables the production of objects through layered printing. By applying 3D printing and bioprinting, it is now possible to make tissue-engineered constructs according to desired thickness, shape, and size that resemble the native structure of lost tissues. Up to now, several organic and inorganic materials were used as raw materials for 3D printing; bioactive glasses (BGs) are among the most hopeful substances regarding their excellent properties (e.g., bioactivity and biocompatibility). In addition, the reported studies have confirmed that BG-reinforced constructs can improve osteogenic, angiogenic, and antibacterial activities. This review aims to provide an up-to-date report on the development of BG-containing raw biomaterials that are currently being employed for the fabrication of 3D printed scaffolds used in tissue regeneration applications with a focus on their advantages and remaining challenges